The Banality of (Dr.) Evil
Hannah Arendt wrote a book with the (almost) aforementioned title. It had to do, in part, with how humans can be going about their business in the generally ordinary way that they do and not realize that they are co-participating in something truly wicked. That was her take-a-way. The scary thing about it is, oftentimes, we don’t have a clue. It’s a vulnerability of being human. We stumble into being evil and we can’t see it.
I thought of her this week. The local Congressman, Jim Banks, offered up a rationale for his intention not to vote to certify the election. Here’s the congressman going along, working hard to maintain his “street cred” in a strongly Republican district. Saying that voting against Joe Biden’s election is important because of “constitutional” concerns about the electoral college system. It’s not a compelling argument. Joe Biden won. So the argument misses the point. The issue of problems with the electoral system can be addressed later. So his argument wasn’t sincere. Insincerity, especially these days, is a venial sin. But on an ordinary day, it will get Banks through. It’s the kind of argument Banks can say (with grave intonation) on radio or tv and it sort of sounds serious enough to pass. Sort of.
Here’s the lesson. When something like what happened this week happens, lots of people who unwittingly abetted it were just trying to do their jobs in their usual ordinary way. It never occurred to them what possible outcome could result. But let’s look at it from a very wide lense. You have story here with Old Testament intensity.
It’s our problem. We have to do something about it. Most of us our lives are too busy to sit in a group many evenings and reflect theologically and philosophically (and psychologically) on where might what we do take us. Some churches try to help with this sort of thing but too many of them have capitulated of late.
At a work meeting yesterday a few of us reflected a little on this week’s events. I was somewhat comforted knowing that I wasn’t alone in my feeling sad.